Lindy Eareckson’s Joy

No mother ever likes to see her child suffer—whether it’s being teased on the playground, breaking a leg or, in my case, breaking my neck.

When it came to my quadriplegia, nobody felt it more keenly than my mother. Mothers seem to bear the burdens of their children in a way that, well… even fathers don’t quite understand. They feel their children’s pain.

Even in the early days after my accident, the smallest things broke my mom’s heart. Like hearing the footsteps of my sisters bounding up the stairs to their bedrooms, while I remained in my makeshift “bedroom” in the corner of our living room. Although my mother tried to make it homey, she still grieved that I couldn’t join my sisters.

Once I saw her shake her head and say, “I just don’t understand; I don’t get why God allowed this to happen.”

She wasn’t resentful against God; she just couldn’t see the good in the accident that altered my life. All she saw was the pain and what I had lost.

Years later, when she attended a Joni and Friends’ Family Retreat, something clicked. Mother saw dozens of special needs families enjoying themselves—kids with disabilities participating in fun activities, parents enjoying date night, great Bible teaching and prayer.

She observed all the joy and healing happening and said in amazement, “Joni, none of this would be happening had your accident never happened!” It was the first time she saw meaningful purpose behind my pain.

When it comes to suffering — especially the suffering of a child — it’s easy for a mother to think that God’s purposes have been thwarted.

But God’s ways are higher than our ways, and Romans 8:28 is a promise to stand on: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (NIV).

In 2001, Lindy Eareckson went home to be with Jesus. I miss her still, but it brings me comfort to think that looking down from heaven’s grandstand, Mother may well be celebrating the way God’s good purposes in her daughter’s life included the blessing of thousands of others.

Today, in however much or little you understand God’s purposes at work in your child’s life, may Lindy Eareckson’s story encourage you this Mother’s Day.

-Joni Eareckson Tada